“Cap’s
right everyone; he can’t do this anymore. Who wants to step up to the plate?”

Heads
remained bowed and only the occasional cough broke the silence.

Sighing
in resignation, Mark knew he had to answer his own question.

“Right,
that leaves me then. Everyone okay with
that?”

Murmurs
of agreement, all tinged with relief, and some quiet sobs reached his ears.
Mark couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with anyone as he slowly
rose. Unable to reach his full height,
he stood stooped over, and looked around.
Visibility was poor, the dust still moving about.

He laid
a hand on the Captain’s shoulder, “I’ll do my best to not let you down.”

“Sorry
to leave this to you Mark.”

Mark
looked in the direction of where he hoped the way out still existed. Inwardly,
his gut recoiled at the thought of what lay on the other side – if he could
even get the heavy door open. ...........

Recently submitted and published on Alison Bruce's Blog for her Valentine Shorts (February 2013) - one item each from both Pam and Liz.From Pam:

Love Is Not Always Coloured Red

The cold creeps into my bones and I start to shiver. The
usual dreich February weather has me dreaming of sandy beaches and palm trees.
Not that I’ve ever seen a palm tree or had a vacation in the sun but I can
imagine. Everything, after all the Christmas lights are gone is grey or white.
The snow is falling as I write this and even the evergreens in this light look,
well grey.

I like grey and
white. I wear grey clothes and my hair is grey; well it’s actually white. I get
told repeatedly to wear some colour. ‘Try a darker lipstick, or, you would
really suit Fuchsia’ to,’ you need some colour’; so say the fashion sages who
are my friends.

And in February for the first two weeks we are bombarded
with..colour. Red to be exact. Red hearts drip over television and newspaper
advertisements. Florist windows display only long stemmed red roses. Boxes of
chocolates are tied with red bows. I’m knitting a red sweater just to cheer me
up.

Red , the colour of love. Valentine day. A day for romance and love.

We met when very young and married soon after. Good years
and bad years but we always come back together. I’ve re-read the handwritten
love letter he wrote the night before we married. You can’t fake that. Some
years we forgot to celebrate our love when life and all its vagaries got in the
way.

The years we did celebrate we’ve been to the honeymoon capital
of the world, Niagara Falls, gone out for dinner, had dinner in, stayed up all
night with a sick child and shared many a box of chocolate or bottle of wine.

I wonder how we’re
celebrating this Valentine day?We’re not speaking this week. Had a
roof leak and sodden carpets and tempers came to the surface as we don’t cope
well with the unexpected.

I am stashed away in the guest bedroom to get away from the
blowing fans drying out the carpets. Its six o’clock. Not a peep from my
beloved. No chocolates or Roses or the promise of a meal out over candles.

There’s a knock on the door. Said beloved moved over and extended
to me his closed fist and dropped a heart shaped piece of amber into my hand.
We made up.

Now amber is brown and gold and I love it. I think I should
go back to my brown hair colour. Who needs red!

From Liz:

A WILLING HEART

“Hearts,” he said. “If I had more than one, you could
have them all. But one is all I have to give. And I promise not to share it
with anyone else.”

She smiled up at him and he waited for her to respond.

“Dear sweet Jake. Yours is the only heart I’d ever
need. I can’t be that selfish – you have a heart that was destined to be
shared – without jealousy. I’d like to think my motives are far above that.”

His warm brown eyes searched hers, where tears
threatened. Her delicate hand folded around his. It was so warm
against the chill of her skin.

“Listen, Sam – February 14th is almost here and
it would mean the world to me if you said yes.”

A gentle sigh escaped her lips. “It’s a big day isn’t
it, for us. I mean, if I were to accept. It means that much to
you?”

He caressed the side of her face and pushed back a lock of
hair. “All my life I’ve wanted to make a difference – a real difference –
in someone’s life. And then you came along, turned my world upside down
you did.”